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Bettesworth Construction
Dalhousie University

Solar Still Made With Tire Waste Produces Up to 15.5 Cups of Water per Day

Dalhousie’s floating solar-still prototype uses tire-derived char to heat water. Its reported maximum—about 15.5 US cups per day per square metre—is not a guaranteed household yield.

By Bettesworth Construction Team 3 min read
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A floating solar-still prototype developed at Dalhousie University produced up to 3.67 litres of water per day in Halifax Harbour tests. A secondary account gives that maximum as per square metre of material, so it is not a promise that any unit will make 15 cups every day. The tire-derived material helps absorb sunlight and heat water; the device remains a research prototype, not a verified consumer appliance.

How the tire-based solar still works

The device uses sunlight to evaporate water and then collects the condensed vapor. Its floating design separates the light-absorbing layer from the cold ocean water, helping focus heat where evaporation takes place.

  1. Water wicks upward: A wicking system draws ocean water to the device’s foam surface.
  2. Sunlight heats the absorber: A paper-thin layer on the foam contains plasmonic titanium carbides incorporating char made from tire rubber.
  3. Water evaporates: Solar-heated material warms the water, while salt and other material that does not evaporate are left behind.
  4. Vapor condenses: Water vapor collects on a clear plastic dome, runs down its surface and enters a sealed collection bag.

The tire rubber is converted to char through pyrolysis: heating carbon-containing waste at high temperature without oxygen. Dalhousie says the team also tried carbon waste from coffee grounds, lobster shells and birch wood residue, and tire rubber performed best. The approach aims to avoid relying on expensive precious-metal plasmonic materials such as gold and silver. Dalhousie University’s 2024 account

What does “15 cups a day” mean?

Dalhousie reported output of up to 3.67 litres per day in tests in Halifax Harbour. New Atlas specifies the maximum as 3.67 litres (about 15.5 US cups) per day per square metre of material. That is a reported maximum under test conditions, not a guaranteed daily yield for a complete household device. The available reports do not establish that the same output would hold across different sunlight, weather, water conditions or deployments. New Atlas’s report

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Is the collected water safe to drink?

Dalhousie describes the device as able to desalinate, disinfect and decontaminate water. However, the available reporting does not establish contaminant-specific results or testing protocols, and it is not enough to recommend drinking the output without independent water-quality validation. Solar evaporation and condensation explain how the prototype separates water from salt; they do not, by themselves, verify the safety of a particular collected batch.

What do the reported costs cover?

Dalhousie reported an estimated cost below one cent per litre; New Atlas gives a figure of 0.86 cents per litre. These are research cost estimates, not retail prices or verified lifecycle costs for a deployed system. The reports do not establish the purchase price, maintenance expense or long-term operating cost of a finished product.

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Is this solar still available to buy?

No product launch, sales channel or consumer model was announced in Dalhousie’s October 2024 report. The university described hopes for future worldwide availability and plans for additional testing in South Asia the following summer, but those statements do not establish current availability. The report also describes a possible modification to generate a small amount of thermoelectricity, envisioned for powering onboard water-quality sensors—not a demonstrated practical power supply or a retail feature. Dalhousie University

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What would matter in evaluating a future version?

For a solar still intended for real use, daily output is only one measure. A useful evaluation would also consider the test area and local sunlight, water-quality validation, durability in wind and waves, salt buildup and maintenance, portability, and full system cost. The available reporting does not provide head-to-head comparisons against other stills on these measures.

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